Garba Shehu: Some traditional rulers in Katsina are aiding bandits

Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, says some traditional rulers are aiding bandits in Katsina, the state President Muhammadu Buhari hails from.

Speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, on Monday, Shehu said these traditional rulers help gunmen escape when security agencies are planning attacks.

Katsina has come under attacks by gunmen in recent times. A number of people have lost their lives and property in the incidents.

Shehu said there are people who are benefiting from the attacks.

“It is not that we are making direct accusations on anyone but it is also true that even in the president’s native state of Katsina, some traditional rulers have been found complicit in collaboration with the bandits to harm their own people,” he said.

“In neighbouring Zamfara, emirs and district heads, quite a number of them have been swept out of office. The thing is there are beneficiaries of whatever rotten system you have.

“At some point, the Nigerian Air Force had to put a number of aircraft in Katsina, they are still there. In the early part of that operation attacking Zamfara which then was the epicentre.

“They realised that once aircraft took off from Katsina airport, before it got to Zamfara for operation, telephone calls would have been made and targets would have disappeared. In the end we were forced to be flying from distant places like Kaduna and Kano in order to undertake operations in Zamfara.”

Shehu said the president does not have the solutions to all the problems confronting the country.

“All of us as citizens have a duty to the nation to provide information to our armed forces,” he said.